"Who needs Mourinho, we've got Mousinho": The miracle of the 37-year-old Portsmouth coach!
John Mousinho is the pioneer of this year's great success of Portsmouth and the way he entered coaching, having consciously chosen this path from a very young footballing age, makes his story special!
By KONSTANTINOS ZALIARIS
After 12 years, the "pompeys" are back in the second division of the English league. A 3-2 win over Barnsley on Tuesday night confirmed their LeagueOne title and combined in the best way direct promotion to the Championship for next season.
The team's players in the dressing room chanted "who needs Mourinho, we've got Mousinho" and the latter has a wonderful story.
As a football player, he probably understood that he would not be able to reach the top level. He could not stay in a team for more than two years. He got many transfers, but he stayed in the lower professional layers of the english football pyramid.
Woking, Brentford, Stevenage, Wycombe, Preston, Gillingham and several others, trusted him in a career that lasted from 2003 to 2023.
That's when things changed. Just one year and four months ago!
Of course, from the age of 22 he had made sure to start the courses for the coaching diploma, so that he didn't waste any time. He was so aware of what he wanted to do. So ready for the next page, since the one he was on just wasn't working out for him...
From 2021 he has been elected as president for the Professional Footballers' Association Players board, which is a testament to his personality and the confidence he exudes to his former colleagues.
In 2022 he secured his Pro License so he can now work at any level he wishes and in the winter of 2023, when he finished his football career, he took over Portsmouth.
When he started this journey, the team was 18th in the standings and he managed, in the few months he guided the club last season, to finish in 8th place in LeagueOne.
This year was his first full football year as a team coach in his first experience in this new professional chapter. He was crowned champion and promoted the "Pompeys" to the Championship for the first time in 12 years!
His name is beginning to spread. It's not, well, difficult. Mousinho. He has a lot to envy from Mourinho. But not his players who prefer him and sing to him...
